Every person you meet in both your professional and personal life might be the one who makes a key introduction for you later. That makes doing the groundwork of networking one of the most important things any person can do when it comes to advancing their career.

If you're outgoing and unafraid of introducing yourself to strangers, making connections and networking may come naturally for you.

Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination, and humility.

The journey of water as it flows upon the earth can be a mirror of our own paths through life. Water begins its residence on earth as it falls from the sky or melts from ice and streams down a mountain into a tributary or stream. In the same way, we come into the world and begin our lives on earth. Like a river that flows within the confines of its banks, we are born with certain defining characteristics that govern our identity. We are born in a specific time and place, within a specific family, and with certain gifts and challenges. Within these parameters, we move through life, encountering many twists, turns, and obstacles along the way just as a river flows.

Humans for the most part are not born consciously knowing what their purpose is and it must be found through exploration.

Most living things belong to a particular soul group and are born knowing their purpose in life. An animal will spend its day foraging for food, taking care of itself and its young, and creating a home. No one tells an animal to do this, yet it instinctively knows how. Humans, for the most part, are not born consciously knowing what their purpose is.

Erik Fisher, productivity podcaster with Beyond the To-Do List, says teamwork, technology, time tracking, and disconnecting from work are organization strategies for small businesses to not only meet, but also exceed their goals.

Once those goals are laid out, here’s how to tame a hectic work week and get those objectives met.

If your tendency is to try and change other people, take some time to explore why you feel the need to do so.

Our perception of humanity as a whole is, to a large extent, dualistic. We paint people with a broad brush--some are like us, sharing our opinions and our attitudes, while others are different. Our commitment to values we have chosen to embrace is often so strong that we are easily convinced that our way is the right way. We may find ourselves frustrated by those who view the world from an alternate vantage point and make use of unusual strategies when coping with life's challenges. However ardently we believe that these people would be happier and more satisfied following our lead, we should resist the temptation to try to change them. Every human being has been blessed with a unique nature that cannot be altered by outside forces. We are who we are at any one point in our lives for a reason, and no one person can say for certain what another should be like.

Over the past two decades, there have been a plethora of work/life policies and programs designed to ensure men and women lead more productive lives (Greenhaus, 2000). The result? People are feeling even more stressed about not achieving, never mind maintaining, balance in their lives. When the goal is work/life balance, people are being forced to play a zero sum game (Friedman, 2014).

There is an underlying assumption that work/life balance is even achievable. Using the scale as a metaphor, work and life are always competing to create equilibrium, at the expense of each other. The fundamental premise presumes conflict, not balance. Another assumption and complaint is that’s thereis never enough time…

There is freedom that comes with awareness, because with it comes the opportunity to make a choice.

Life is a journey comprised of many steps on our personal path that takes us down a winding road of constant evolution. And each day, we are provided with a myriad of opportunities that can allow us to transform into our next best selves. One moment we are presented with an opportunity to react differently when yet another someone in our life rubs us the wrong way; on another day we may find ourselves wanting to walk away from a particular circumstance but are not sure if we can. Eventually, we may find ourselves stuck in a rut that we can never seem to get out of. We may even make the same choices over and over again because we don't know how to choose otherwise. Rather than moving us forward, our personal paths may take us in a seemingly never-ending circle where our actions and choices lead us nowhere but to where we've already been. It is during these moments that awareness can be the first step to change.

What is an efficient life? What is efficiency for that matter? We’ll start with defining our term. Efficiency is any system designed to achieve maximum productivity with minimal waste or expense. And this has truly become the thesis for Simple Economist. An efficient life is one lived without wasted time, money, or resources. It is a life where the unnecessary has been removed and only the useful remains. It is a life in which we understand what brings us true satisfaction and we are actively pursuing it. It is about knowledge, self control and behavior. By applying the principles defined in economics, we can leverage efficiency to live a fulfilling, productive, relaxing, and awesome life.

Why does negotiation matter? Quite simply, the world would be a much angrier and more dissatisfied place without it, and we'd achieve very little in life due to constant conflict and misunderstanding.

A good negotiator finds a mutually acceptable way forward, instead of being at loggerheads with people who hold different views or who are working toward different goals. He or she will skillfully close a deal, agree a new training plan, set a schedule, or fine-tune processes. Good negotiation leads to better working practices, and increased satisfaction in the workplace and in life in general.

In this article, we look at some of the different approaches to negotiation, how best to prepare yourself, and what other skills you can employ to maximize your success.

Ten years might seem so far away that you can’t imagine starting to think about it right now. But deep down, I suspect you know that to create the future you want, you have to start building it from this very moment.

The first step in this process is to evaluate your behavior, ensuring that you don’t unconsciously sabotage your chance at happiness. To help you on the path, I’ve outlined seven of the choices people most commonly regret. Ask yourself if you’re guilty of any of these things, and if so, start working to remedy those issues/change those habits as efficiently as possible: